


walking on a dream

by lmaoosorry



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier - Freeform, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, M/M, Multi, New Kid AU, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris Are Best Friends, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, Slow Burn, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, What else is new, ill add more as i go - Freeform, like very slow burn, mayhaps benverly, mike hanlon is an angel, mike lives on his farm, music references from now and the past, parents are shit, richie is an artist, richie is from new york, richie plays piano, stan and richie go birdwatching, stan is an angel and a little shit, strap in this is gonna be a long ride, the losers visit him all the time, very music inspired
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-26 08:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20927267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmaoosorry/pseuds/lmaoosorry
Summary: Have you ever met someone, and automatically knew they were destined to be great?That was him. That was Richie Tozier.Eddie knew it from the moment he saw him. Richie Tozier was going to be great, wherever he went. He was going to shine wherever he ended up. He would always be that light in everyone's life. Richie Tozier, ‘the sunrise in the morning; the warm break from the night’. There is no one like that kid, and there will never be anyone like him. One of a kind, that boy. He was going to do amazing things, and Eddie wants to be right by his side all along the way.





	walking on a dream

**Author's Note:**

> "there is a house built out of stone"

October 4th, 1987, 51° & partly cloudy

He rolls over to squint at the clock seated next to his bed.

4:27 a.m. 

The boy sighed to himself and forced his body fully to the side, coffee brown curls making their way onto his face as he carelessly flops over. Another night gone with the gift of rest not given.

_how long have i been laying here for? _

Richie gives the idea of sleep a break and slides out of the sheets that warmed his body, sitting up into the dark chilled room he calls his own. Around him are posters of different bands taped to the wall and lights gifted to him strung around the ceiling. 

_ “They’re cute right! I saw them and thought they’d look so sick in your room. You’ll have to hang them up and invite me over so I can see them” _

_ Beverly. _Richie adored the gift that gave his room life when the light bulbs in his overhead light burnt out last month, but mostly he adored the redhead he called his best friend. 

_best friend, only friend, what’s the difference? _

The sleep deprived boy rubs his eyes with the backs of his hands as he gets up and exits his room, walking down the old noisy stairs and into the dark kitchen. He flips on the light switch and crosses his arms, continuing in. On the counter lays a note written eight days ago,

_ ‘Gone for business trip. Money on fridge. Be back thurs. -mom’ _

_it’s tuesday. she’s still not home. nothing new. _

He walks over and opens the dishwasher, picking up the first cup he sees and filling it up with water from the moneyless fridge. Richie wonders if she forgot to put the money up there or if they’d been robbed. After sipping on the water for a few seconds, looking around at the house covered in dark, he wanders back up the stairs with the half empty cup. When he reaches the top of the stairs he debates taking a shower or not. Pushing it off until later, Richie walks back into his room, pushing dirty clothes from at his feet, and making his way to the messy desk littered with half finished sketches. Sitting down, he stares at his most recent work; an assigned artwork. 

_ “Something that scares you richie, what scares you?” _Richies art teacher, Mr. Right had said to him monday morning, (Trashmouth had originally owned up to his nickname the first month of school and gave him shit about his name until he realized he’s actually a chill guy who actually cared about Richie’s art. Richie knew having an adult care about him was rare, so he shut his mouth in class and laid off of with the jokes on the poor man). 

There’s unfinished drawings of clowns and missing posters all around his desk, but none of them turned out right. Richie switched on the lamp. what _ was _his fear? Clowns had always been his go-to since no one would question that. Who the hell isn’t a little afraid of clowns? Totally legitimate answer, but was it Richie’s honest one? His arms reached down to retrieve the pencil lying on the floor as he grabbed a fresh sheet of paper. Placing it down on the surface, he looked around his walls for inspiration, landing on a cut out picture of Beverly and him in a photobooth. His wrist moved to sketch the outline of the girl’s nose, shading in the appropriate places and moving down to add lips and the outline of her face. 

In the dim light, he slowly sketched out the redheads face and hair, even adding her signature key necklace that she matched with him. Richie reached down to his own key hanging from his neck, toying with it through his fingers. They had found the keys laying on the ground together one night the two were out, probably dropped from some old mans pocket. Bev had taken them both home with her and returned the next day with them hanging from two chains. It’s been about a month since that night, and Richie hasn’t taken his necklace off (neither had she).

Beverly adored the new kid from New York with no friends, taking him right into her arms the first night she saw him skating to the gas station on 5th Street. She was usually the only one out at this hour, no children dared to leave their houses so late. But that’s just one more thing that helped them get along; they were the only ones. Late hours get lonely when your home is another challenge rather than a break from the world. Richie understood that firsthand. Richie understood Beverly better than anyone she’s ever met. That's just the thing about richie, he understood everyone but no one understood him. Beverly tries, and she actually does pretty well, but she hasn’t got underneath all the walls Richie’s spent his life building yet. Still Beverly hasn't given up on the boy, Richie gives her that. Usually everyone just stops caring, writing him off as too hard to understand, ignoring him with the rest of the crowd. Richie had moved to Derry late July and met Bev shortly after his first few day. They instantly clicked and hung out every night at that gas station and during the day if they were free (Richie always was). Richie smiles, looking down at his finished sketch. He doesn’t quite understand why he drew her, but it turned out good enough for his liking. 

_ Losing Beverly. _

A chill runs down Richies spine.

That’s his fear. Losing Beverly. Could you imagine? He’s only known the girl for a few months but Richie already knows he’d die without her bubbly attitude lighting up every room she walks into. The sun follows that girl, lighting her up like she’s the only person in the world. She walks with her head high and shoulders pushed back, unbothered by everything. Richie thinks if someone had to save the world and put it back together, it would be Bev. 

..

6:49 a.m.

Richie grabs his skateboard and a pack of cigarettes before heading out of his house, not bothering to lock the door (small town.. who would go in?). Tossing his skateboard on the road, he sets off towards the small gas station he meets Bev at every morning before school. It’s chilly today, but not too cold. The sky is a pale blue color crowded by gray clouds this morning and the leaves on the trees are bright shades of yellow and red instead of their normal emerald green. Richie skates under the trees and swivels from side to side taking up the entire road as if he owned it. The cold air bites against his cheeks, turning the color to a pink champagne. 

“Hey Tozier!” Beverly cheerfully calls out and waves as Richie skates his way over to the designated spot. 

“Jesus.. how do you have so much energy this early in the morning?” Richie mumbles out as he kicks up his skateboard and walks towards the redheaded girl. She recently cut her hair shorter, just above her shoulders. Richie thinks it fits her better than her long hair did. She hears his remark, because of course she did, and rolls her eyes.

“Some of us actually sleep at night,” She smugly announces, sending a wink towards Richie as she turns to walk in, “lets get breakfast inside it’s colder than a witches tit out here”

He holds back a chuckle and replies with “It’s not cold you’re just weak Beaver-ly” 

His remark earns a shove to the side from Beverly,

“Nah. I just forgot a jacket today Mr. Navy Blue Sweater” she smirks at him, pinching his knit sweater. Richie playfully shoves her off, choosing to ignore the way she mouths ‘cute’ to him, and opens the door for her as they walk in. He follows her down the isles not bothering to look at anything they pass by. The soft buzz of the refrigerators fill Richie’s ears as they stroll. She ends up picking out a fresh blueberry muffin from the display of muffins set up on the front counter.

Beverly turns to Richie as she starts to pay “Not getting anything kid? 

Richie shrugs, watching a short kid get a gum-ball from the gum-ball machine.

“No money”

_jeez how embarrassing do i sound right now? _

Beverly thanks the worker and hands Richie her muffin. 

“Oh no it’s okay” Richie says trying to give back the muffin

“Have it. I packed a lunch anyways” She replies pointing to her bag and walking out.

“I don’t like blueberry” Richie insistes pushing the door back open after it swings back. Cold air comes running back to his face as it welcomes him outside.

“Stop being stubborn and eat the damn thing. I’ll eat some of my lunch in homeroom” Beverly reassures, pulling her sleeves down over her hands.

He has no option but to agree. Blueberry isn’t that bad. He’s thankful for the food.

“Thank you”

“You’re welcome. Eat up, class starts at seven I can’t be late again Mr. Mye will have my ass” Bev replies speeding up their walk towards the school.

“Okay okay.” Richie replies, stuffing his mouth with muffin and walking faster to catch up with her.

They reach the front of the school in a few minutes and walk onto the campus. Beverly's friends sit at the sable table they always do. Richie smiles at Beverly, and they split ways. Richie walks behind the school to sit on the empty bleachers and Beverly walks to the group of friends she adores.

“Hey Bevvy” the curly haired boy, Stan, greets her. A chorus of ‘hey Bevs’ go around the table as she sits in the open spot next to a wavy brown haired boy. He’s resting his cheek on his palm and watching Richie walk out of sight.

“Hi Eddie” she softly says, pulling Eddie’s eyes back to her

“Why haven’t you ever introduced us to that boy?” Eddie softly asks her, eyes full of curiosity as he looks up at her face. The group looks over to Eddie and then over to Bev, looking like they've been wondering too. 

Beverly shrugs, “I don’t know. I didn’t know you guys wanted to meet him”

“He s-s-seems c-cool” Bill, the boy in the nicely buttoned up blue and green flannel stutters.

“He looks kinda scary” Ben, the shorter boy with a yellow and grey t-shirt says as he looks in the direction Richie disappeared in. 

“What makes you say that, Ben?” Stan asks, glancing where Ben was looking but settling on his face. The group repeats the action, one set of eyes staying longer than the rest did hoping maybe, the tall boy would walk back out.

Ben looks down, “I don’t know. The way he dresses I guess? He’s always getting in trouble too. Reminds me of Bowers.” 

Beverly flinches a bit for the boy she loves, knowing he’d never compare to him for even an instant, but realizing she sees a side of him no one else has.

“He’s not like Bowers.” Beverly says a bit too cold, “I wouldn’t hang out with him if he was. You know that.”

Ben looks a bit taken back, but doesn’t say anything

“I’m sure Mike would want to meet him too” Eddie suggests, pressing on. 

Beverly smiles at the shorter kid, and catches onto the way his eyes beg ‘_please Bev’ _ so she comes up with an idea.

“Why don’t I invite him to movie night tomorrow? Bill would that be okay with your family?” Bev suggests. Every Wednesday night is movie night for the losers.

The bell rings signaling it was time to go to class.

“Yeah s-s-sure Bev they w-won’t be home a-anyways. I-I-I think they’re g-go-going out to dinner or s-something tonight,” Bill answers packing up his books and zipping his backpack up, “G-Georgie’s joining us tonight t-too”

“Okay sounds good” Beverly nods, packing her stuff up too. 

Stan already has his things safely packed away so he reaches over to help Eddie, “Am I bringing the movie tonight?” He asks the group. 

Responses of scattered ‘yes’ and a ‘yeah pick a good one this time’ from Bev is given to him so he nods, flips Beverly off, and starts walking with Bill and Ben to get to homeroom on time.

Eddie smiles brightly at Beverly, “Thanks B. I’m excited to finally meet him” he gleams once the other Losers are out of ear reach.

“I still have to ask him though. Don’t get your hopes too far up okay? He’ll probably say no” Beverly tells Eddie even though she fully knows she’ll drag Richies ass there if needed. Eddie doesn’t lose too much of his smile, choosing to keep his hopes up just incase this mysterious Richie chooses not to disappoint. He really hopes Richie says yes. He’s been wanting to meet him ever since he saw him walk into school on the first day a month ago. Bev got to him first before Eddie could build up enough courage to introduce himself. He thinks that's probably better though, Beverly can make anyone feel comfortable. Hopefully comfortable enough to say yes to a movie night with five strangers.

.

Richie skips homeroom, per usual, and decides to sneak into the music room where they keep all the instruments. He snuck in there a couple of times before to play the piano or bass they have lying around, never really picking up any of the other more advanced looking ones in fear of breaking them.

He walks over to the piano in the back of the room, right by the window looking out to the courtyard, and sets his backpack and skateboard down next to the bench seat. 

He sits down and starts playing the chords to ‘Vienna’ by Billy Joel.

“Slow down, you crazy child. You’re so ambitious for a juvenile” Richie softly sings to himself as he focuses on his fingers moving to the tune of the song. His voice is soft and raspy silk and the words flow out of him like smooth milk. 

“Where's the fire what's the hurry about?” A song like this belongs to be sung in front of a small audience or on a small farm during a late August day. Richie can imagine the warm sun resting on his back as he moves through a field of sunflowers and looks out to the mountains in front of him. A late summer day filled with sun and love, only so many hours in a day. He imagines a group of friends riding in the bed of an old rusty pale blue pickup truck down an empty road as this song blasts out of the speakers, all the friends singing together, the sun slowly falling under the mountains. Suddenly he’s running down the road into the open country. No one around, just Richie and the clouds in the sky. The sky is Richie's warm watercolor palette, yellows and oranges and reds exploding every which way. Suddenly the world has no blue tint; its yellow. The sun kisses the grass and wildflowers, it kisses Richie's hair and Richie's skin and Richie's freckles. 

“When will you realize, Vienna waits for you.”

Richie finishes the song and comes back down from the clouds of his daydream. He smiles at the piano, almost feeling the heat on his back that he imagined. He looks around and the feeling goes away, falling off of him like snow off a tree branch. A pang of hurt in his chest takes place of the sun. Richie glances back to the window and watches as rain starts to slowly fall from the clouds. He crosses his arms and lays his head on them, turning his head sideways so he can watch the rain for a while.

At some point Richie nods off and is awoken by the school bell ringing, signaling first period would start soon. He rubs his eyes and runs a hand through his hair, picking up his backpack and heading out of the music room and down the hall to his class.

..

The bell rings for lunch, and Richie practically runs out of his third period. He starts to walk to the double doors that go to the back field of the school when he is pulled back by a small freckled arm. 

“Hey Rich!” Beverly says grabbing his attention. Richie turns around and smiles at the (only slightly) shorter girl. 

“Oh hey Bee,” Richie responds, glancing behind her and seeing as her gaggle of friends stand a little farther back, all staring right at the two of them. He shifts uncomfortably. “What’s up? Everything alright?”

“Everythings perfect! Want to come over and watch a movie with me and the kids back there tomorrow night? Were going to Bill's house, it’s super nice” She asks with hope in her voice. Richie looks back at the kid he thinks is Bill, but returns his eyes on the floor. 

“Oh um,” Richie starts, kicking his shoe against the other, “I don’t know Bev..” 

_me? is this a pity invite? do they feel like they have to invite me? _

“Come on they all want you to come,” Beverly begs, “they’ve been asking to meet you”

_what? _

“They have?” Richie accidentally lets slip out, looking up and connecting eyes with the girl in front of him. He mentally facepalms for sounding so desperate.

“Yeah. Especially Eddie, the little one, kid seems set on the idea of meeting you”

_ Eddie? ..Kaspbrak? _

Richie sighs, shifting his weight and nervously smiling, “Sorry Bev. You know I'd really love to but I’m actually super busy with your mom that night. Maybe next time” 

He starts to turn back around but is, once again, stopped by the Redheads arm.

“Richie.” She scolds turning the tired-looking boy back to her.

Richie looks around and shakes his head, looking fed up.

“Listen Bee, I’m sorry but you know i'm not too good with that sort of shit. I’ll say some dumbass shit and they’ll all hate me by the end of the day, what’s the point?” 

The hallway is almost clear, just Richie, Beverly, and Beverly’s friends remaining with the exception with a few kids passing here and there. Richie thinks the group has moved closer than they were before, but still not close enough to hear what they’re saying. 

“They will not Richie. They’re some of the best people I’ve ever met. They took me in, they’ll love you ok?” Beverly reassures. Richie stays silent.

“Please Rich? It’s only a few hours, you can leave early if you want.” 

“Okay. Yeah sure okay whatever” Richie mumbles out. Beverly smiles brightly and practically bounces on her feet.

“Yay! Here’s his address,” She hands him a sticky note from her back pocket, “See you later To-To.” 

Richie watches as Beverly walks back to her group of friends. He sees them all smile at her and start talking, walking away from Richie and towards the lunch room. The small one (Eddie? That's gotta be him) looks back at Richie and gives him a warm smile before they turn the corner and disappear behind the wall. Richie smiles back and feels his chest warm up.

_what the fuckkkkk _

_why did i just say yes to hanging out with them? _

_how could i say no when that kid was looking at me like that? _

Richie turns on his heel and decides to go eat in the music room instead of heading outside, seeing as his usual spot is wet from the rain. 

He pushes open the door slowly, making sure no one else is in there, and continues back to the spot he was at this morning, choosing to sit on the windowsill. It's a pretty wide windowsill so he can sit comfortably on it without falling. He pulls out a bag of chips (Salt and Vinegar Lays) that he stole from his kitchen cupboard earlier and eats them as he stares out at the birds flying overhead.

..

It’s around 3:00 p.m. and Richie is sketching the birds that are resting on a tree branch in front of him. He’s sitting on a rock under a big tree by the river that runs through Derry. School got out about 30 minutes ago and the rain stopped earlier; replaced by the warm sun. 

“Hey!” Richie looks up, puzzled from where the sound came from.

“Richie right?” Richie hears from behind him. He looks back and sees one of Beverly's friends walking towards him. He's holding a thick book and binoculars are dangling from his neck.

“Yeah that’s me?” Richie replies watching the curly haired boy in the collared shirt sit down next to him. 

“I’m Stan. One of Beverly's friends,” Stan starts, “I heard you’re coming tomorrow night”

Richie nervously laughs and rubs the back of his neck with his hand, “Uh yeah. If that's alright? It’s okay right? I don’t want to intrude on movie night, seems important to you guys”

Stan chuckles a bit at Richies reaction and looks up to the birds on the branch, “Of course it’s okay stupid, why would we invite you if it wasn’t?” Richie shrugs. 

Stan looks down at Richies drawing of the bird above and smiles. 

“Are you sketching that bird up there? It’s beautiful. Do you like birds?” Stanly asks with a certain light in his eye.

_ Not Really, _Richie thinks. Really he was just bored and had nothing to sketch so he wandered down here, but because of the light in Stan’s eyes and the obvious excitement he has from the possibility, Richie responds with, “Yeah sometimes. They are beautiful, do you know what type that one is?

Stan lights up more and flips open his big ass book, flipping through the pages until he lands on one with a picture of the bird they see above. 

“That’s a Tufted Titmouse!” Richie holds back a joke, “He’s a songbird too. Has he been singing?” 

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe?” Richie replies, there are birds chirping and making noise all around them, Richie hadn't really been paying attention.

“Beautiful song those birds have, I’ve heard it a few times” Richie smiles at Stan’s interest in the small creature. 

“Do you know a lot about birds?” Richie asks, tilting his head to the side a bit (curls falling over his eyes, not that he notices). 

“Just a bit, I want to know more. I love studying them. When I was younger, my Grandfather and I would go bird-watching every saturday” Stan smiles at the distant memory. 

“That’s nice. Do you still see him?” Richie asks Stan, instantly regretting it. 

_oh shit. what if the guys dead? oh fuck please don’t be dead. _

But Stan smiles, “Yeah sometimes. He moved to Florida with my Grandma a few years back, sometimes we go visit them” he replies

_oh thank fuck. _

“Florida? That’s sick. Is it nice there?” 

“Pretty hot in the summer, they moved right on the beach so we get to go to the ocean. That's always fun” 

“Mm” Richie hums in agreement. 

Richie and Stan stay under the tree for a few hours, Richie drawing the birds they spot and Stan finding the names of them and listing off facts (per Richie’s request). They talk about Stan’s family and what the ocean is like. Richie enjoys the company very much, and the conversation more. 

They part ways at a quarter-after five p.m. saying quick goodbyes and promises of seeing each other tomorrow at movie night.

Richie skates home. The sunset paints the sky with rich oranges and reds and pinks. The sun in Richie’s chest returns.


End file.
